About Us

Two reasons: We still believe what our parents told us – we’re special, and a small group of people have been interested in what we’ve been doing.

What are we doing that is interesting?

We have been living a non-traditional life for our demographic. We were both raised in white suburbia Middle America. We went to college and got degrees. Since then we’ve done some coloring within the lines; that isn’t generally what people are interested in. We have also taken many deviations from the standard path. People connect with that.

So what?

That is a question we struggle with. At first it felt good to simply color outside the lines. The novelty wore off. Meaningfully using our time is now our big deal.

How do we do that?

We try strategies picked from a variety of self-help and management books. We write down what is important – Our Values. We create our vision – Our Story. And we come up with action items to make things happen – Our Projects. We also hope for luck.

Best way to use this website?

Read – We’re creating content to motivate, provoke, and inform. Comment – Make it a conversation. Contact – We have an Urbyville Facebook page, or you can email us.

How do we determine if this website is a good use of time?

Two parts, us and you. If we feel good about our story as we write it and we continue to live a website-worthy life then this website is a good use of our time. If a couple people find this website useful, they get some helpful information or are provoked to think about what they’re doing with their lives, then this website is a good use of our time.

Cheers.

Matt, Julie & Paavo

2 Responses to About Us

I just got done reading A Long Way From Nowhere. I wanted to tell you that this is not my normal type book but I loved it and have been telling everyone I can about it. I wanted to pass on our story and tell you how much one particular passage has changed us and our goals for the future.

On January 13, 2014 we lost our infant son James. He was 27 days old. In your book on page 117, Matt talks about his hike up James Peak where he met a couple named Mike and Carrie. It just so happens my husbands name in Mike and my name is Carrie. As I read this I was already emotional because of your heartfelt words and honesty about missing each other. But I started to cry so hard because it felt like our son was somehow talking to us through your words.

This has made us at 41 (me) and 43 (Mike) want to start hiking and to hike James Peak in honor of our son. Luckily we live in Colorado and its not that far from us. We are planning on doing the hike this summer with friends and family.

I was hoping maybe you could send us some pointers for beginners and how you would train for this hike. The websites I found said it is a moderate to hard hike and I want to make sure we are all prepared and that we can make it to the top.

Thank you again for writing such an amazing book. I am an avid reader and I don’t know if I can remember the last time a book has touched me so much even before I read the passage about James Peak.

Thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your story. It brought tears to our eyes as we read it. We’re so sorry for your loss and happy you were able to connect to us through that part of our CDT journey. That time on the trail and James peak in particular are some of the most memorable parts of our trail experience. We feel honored that you reached out to us and would love to help in any way we can.